Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:47 | Report Abuse

Lam pointed out that French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) investigation report on AF447 had highlighted poor coordination between French, Brazilian and Senegalese authorities as one of the reasons for the delay in ARCCs of an emergency.

Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:47 | Report Abuse

Among other problems, Brazilian and Senegalese air traffic controllers spent hours contacting each other about AF447’s location and estimated arrival times, without even contacting Air France’s operations centre.

Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:47 | Report Abuse

Eventually - two hours and 45 minutes after last communications with AF447 - another Air France flight passing through the same area, informed the operations centre of a possible problem.

Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:48 | Report Abuse

It was 6 hours and 30 minutes since last contact with AF447 before an alert was first alert was sent to rescuers, and nine hours and 29 minutes before the first search aircraft took off, partly due to the lack of a joint SAR protocols between Brazil and Senegal on contrary to the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) regulations.

Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:48 | Report Abuse

“In my opinion, I don’t think the Malaysian government took note of the incident and recommendations made by the BEA (on how to avoid repeating the mistakes),” he said.

He believes this is why Hishammuddin thought Malaysia had performed better than the handling of the AF447 incident.

Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:48 | Report Abuse

As a signatory to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, he said Malaysia should have abided by ICAO’s protocols on emergency response.

He said it required the ARCC to be notified in 30 minutes of losing contact with MH370, to go on ‘Alert’ in 60 minutes if further attempts fail to reach the aircraft, and finally escalate to the ‘Distress’ phase of emergency response if more attempts also fail

Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:49 | Report Abuse

In addition, the senior fellow at the DAP-linked think tank Refsa also raised questions on the military’s protocols, and queried why the air force did not respond to an unidentified aircraft flying across Peninsular Malaysia and towards the Andaman Sea.

Shortly after MH370 disappeared from civilian radar and was diverted from its original flight path, military radar tracked it as an unidentified aircraft flying from off the coast of Penang until it left radar coverage over the Andaman Sea.

Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:49 | Report Abuse

Lam said he does not know the military’s procedures, which are usually kept secret. However, the ICAO has guidelines on how to deal with unidentified or stray aircraft.

These procedures are laid out in ICAO Document 4444 (Air Traffic Management), he said, and includes attempting to contact such aircraft and alerting military authorities.

Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:50 | Report Abuse

“Since the 9/11 incident, air forces all over the world learnt lessons from it. They continuously did a lot of drills and exercises on how to intercept stray or unidentified aircraft also,” he added, referring to the terrorist attack in New York and other places in the US on Sept 11, 2001, involving hijacked aircraft.

Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:50 | Report Abuse

One notable example of a stray airliner being intercepted was the Helios Airways Flight 522 incident in 2005, where a Boeing 737-300 aircraft flew off-course and did not respond to attempts to contact it.

Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:51 | Report Abuse

He said two Hellenic Air Force fighters were scrambled to investigate the Helios flight, and saw that the co-pilot was unconscious, the captain was missing, a person was waving at the fighter pilots from the cockpit, and oxygen masks had been deployed. It crashed 30 minutes later after running out of fuel.

Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:51 | Report Abuse

“So the question arises,” said Lam, "Did ATC (air traffic control) or MAS conformed to this particular provision? Did they do it?

"This is the international standard. With regards to military standards, I don’t know because military documents should be highly classified information, but we can assess from the international standard. I hope Hishammuddin can comment on this," he said.

Posted by SS3U > 2014-05-04 22:51 | Report Abuse

Previously, when questioned on why MH370 was not intercepted although its identity could not be ascertained at the time, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak replied that air defence officers were certain that the aircraft was not hostile.

This was because although the identity of the aircraft was unknown, it behaved like a commercial airliner, he said.

Posted by Mordecai > 2014-05-04 23:56 | Report Abuse

Crap! Still fool around with the cockpit recording at this point of time? This is absurd and unwise! Why is MAS still not transparent?

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:09 | Report Abuse

The release of new information on Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370’s cargo has again raised questions over the lithium ion batteries on board the missing jet.

The batteries were part of a larger “consolidated” shipment weighing about two tonnes, or equivalent to 2,453kg, a statement last night from MAS had said.

A Star Online report today quoted an unnamed NNR Global Logistics (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd spokesperson in Batu Maung, Penang, as saying that the batteries weighed less than 200kg.

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:09 | Report Abuse

He would not say what made up the remaining 2,253kg of cargo due to directives from legal advisers not to talk while investigations are ongoing.

The spokesperson also did not reveal the name of the company that manufactured the batteries, saying that it was confidential.

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:09 | Report Abuse

A consolidated shipment combines several individual consignments to make up a full container load, which would be separated later at the port of destination into their original individual consignments for delivery to their respective consignees.

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:10 | Report Abuse

The batteries had been part of theories of what might have happened to the plane that went missing on March 8 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:10 | Report Abuse

Lithium ion batteries, which are used in mobile phones and computer laptops, are highly inflammable and had been reported to be responsible for a number of fires on planes in recent years.

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:10 | Report Abuse

On March 24, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya had said that there were some 200kg of lithium batteries onboard the plane and that they were packed safely.

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:10 | Report Abuse

In a statement last night, MAS revealed for the first time that the rest of the consignment with the batteries consisted of radio accessories and chargers.

“About two tonnes, equivalent to 2,453kg, of cargo was declared as consolidated under one master airway bill (AWB).

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:11 | Report Abuse

"This master AWB actually comprised five house AWB. Of these five AWB, two contained lithium ion batteries amounting to a total tonnage volume of 221kg,” the statement read.

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:11 | Report Abuse

"The balance three house AWB, amounting to 2,232kg, were declared as radio accessories and chargers.”

The AWB for the consignment was RM32,082.48.

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:11 | Report Abuse

This information about the cargo was also not stated in the full cargo manifest that was released together with the preliminary report on MH370 on Thursday.

The manifest only showed that NNR Global shipped 133 pieces for a total weight of 2,453kg.

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:12 | Report Abuse

The manifest did not specify the number of batteries nor their weight, but came with an instruction that the batteries should be handled with care and that flammability hazards exist.

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:12 | Report Abuse

The manifest stated that the batteries were from NNR Global, which is located at the Dis3plex Free Commercial Zone in the Airfreight Forwarders Warehousing Cargo Complex, less than 100m from the Penang International Airport.

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:12 | Report Abuse

The package was meant for NNR Global Logistics (Beijing) Co Ltd in China and a company named JHJ International Transportation Co Ltd, Beijing Branch, was to collect the cargo on its behalf.

Posted by cindylim > 2014-05-06 00:12 | Report Abuse

It was reported previously that the missing plane had lithium ion batteries and more than 4 tonnes of mangosteens in its cargo.

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:42 | Report Abuse

Europe's aviation safety watchdog yesterday called for the transmission time of tracking beacons fitted onto black box flight recorders to be extended from 30 to 90 days, a reform that may have made it easier to find the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:42 | Report Abuse

The aircraft disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board, and an intense search for the plane has been scaled back after coming up with nothing despite an air and sea hunt over 4.64 million square kilometres of the southern Indian Ocean.

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:42 | Report Abuse

Part of the problem is that the batteries to the beacons fitted onto the so-called "black box" cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder – which are crucial in locating a plane and determining what caused it to crash – have died, making the search even more difficult.

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:43 | Report Abuse

In a statement, the European Aviation Safety Agency urged "the extension of the transmission time of underwater locating devices (ULD) fitted on flight recorders from 30 days to 90 days".

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:43 | Report Abuse

The agency suggested that all large planes flying over oceans be equipped with a new type of ULD with a longer locating range.

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:43 | Report Abuse

The minimum recording duration of cockpit voice recorders installed on new large planes should also be increased to 20 hours from the current two hours, it added.

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:44 | Report Abuse

"The tragic flight of Malaysia Airlines MH370 demonstrates that safety can never be taken for granted," said Patrick Ky, EASA's director.

"The proposed changes are expected to increase safety by facilitating the recovery of information by safety investigation authorities."

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:44 | Report Abuse

The recommendations need to be adopted by the European Commission, and will apply to all planes and helicopters registered in the 32 EASA member states.

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:44 | Report Abuse

Australia on Monday hosted a meeting in Canberra with the transport ministers of Malaysia and China to determine the way forward in the hunt for the missing plane, which will focus on an intensified undersea search.

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:44 | Report Abuse

China is involved because two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese, while the plane is believed to have gone down in Australia's search and rescue territory.

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:45 | Report Abuse

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss admitted the hunt will take time, with the ocean bed in the prospective search zone several kilometres deep and largely unmapped, meaning specialist sonar equipment and other autonomous vehicles are needed.

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:45 | Report Abuse

He said a tender process would start soon to acquire them, but it would likely be two months before the equipment was actually in the water, while more oceanographic mapping was required to better understand where they would be looking.

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:45 | Report Abuse

A submersible Bluefin-21 has been scouring the seabed in an area where undersea transmissions were detected, believed to have come from the plane's black box flight recorders before the batteries died.

Posted by ChanKengChungKuantan > 2014-05-07 10:46 | Report Abuse

It will soon be joined by a dedicated team of vessels from Australia, Malaysia and China. An Australian P-3 Orion jet will also be available to follow up any leads.

Posted by joeylee2013 > 2014-05-08 00:09 | Report Abuse

Putrajaya must be transparent about the circumstances that led to flight MH70 vanishing two months ago, and should apologise for shortcomings in the search for the missing plane, the husband of one of the passengers wrote in an open letter to the prime minister

Posted by joeylee2013 > 2014-05-08 00:09 | Report Abuse

K. S. Narendran, whose wife Chandrika Sharma was on the Malaysia Airlines plane with 238 other people, said the families have lost their loved ones but Malaysia had lost its credibility in the search for the Boeing 777-200ER.

Posted by joeylee2013 > 2014-05-08 00:09 | Report Abuse

"Perhaps the most serious casualty second only to the loss of the plane is the severely impaired credibility of your Government and the airline's handling of the crisis.

Posted by joeylee2013 > 2014-05-08 00:10 | Report Abuse

"The skimpy Preliminary Report released to the public this week, supposedly based on your guidelines does little to enhance your government's commitment to transparency, and therefore only adds fuel to doubts, suspicion and speculations," he wrote in an email to Datuk Seri Najib Razak dated May 4, 2014.

Posted by joeylee2013 > 2014-05-08 00:10 | Report Abuse

Narendran, an Indian citizen, also asked Najib to act like a statesman in the hunt for the plane, which has yet to be found after going missing on March 8, 2014, while en route to Beijing.

Posted by joeylee2013 > 2014-05-08 00:11 | Report Abuse

"I have heard you speak thrice now, the first time on 15th March when you referred among other things to the MH370's 'turn back' as 'deliberate action' by someone on the plane, then on 24th March when you delivered an unpalatable, cryptic message that MH 370 had ended in the Indian ocean, and a third time a little over a week ago – you in conversation with Richard Quest wherein you spoke of mistakes made.

Posted by joeylee2013 > 2014-05-08 00:11 | Report Abuse

"Each time, I experienced you as measured, sombre in a way that could be easily taken as sincere, and as a man with good intentions. You and perhaps your managers have ensured that you are statesman-like. The time has come now for you to actually be the part," he wrote in the email.

Posted by joeylee2013 > 2014-05-08 00:11 | Report Abuse

Narendran asked the prime minister "to go deeper into what was unprecedented and when did the event enter unprecedented territory or proportions."